


for the damaged

by damedanbo



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-04 08:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12165282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damedanbo/pseuds/damedanbo
Summary: A series of unconnected drabbles, ficlets, and AU ideas.





	1. running up that hill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hibari visits Mukuro in Vendicare - Running up That Hill, Placebo

“You have five minutes,” the guard says. Rather, he hears it, though he can’t be sure the guard actually said it from any kind of mouth, face all wrapped in bandages. Do the Vindice have mouths? Do they speak? Or do their words come from nowhere, from everywhere-

Five minutes. That’s all he has, he reminds himself, and steps through the door.

The room is pitch dark once the metal door slams behind him, cutting off all artificial light. He blinks, trying to adjust to the darkness and find some lightsource to see by. Slowly but surely, the shadows take shape.

He steps forward, approaching the dark tank. At first he can’t see Mukuro- but as his eyes adapt to the blackness, he’s able to make out the man’s form. He floats in the tank, wrapped up in shackles and chains. A breathing apparatus over his nose and mouth, and a thick tube connects to his hell eye, covering it. Chaining him for real. His hair floats around him like a spiky anemone.

Hibari stops in front of the cold, black glass. He doesn’t know what to say, now that he’s here. It’s been ten years.

Five minutes. Don’t waste it.

He presses a hand against the glass and starts to speak, but a familiar voice cuts him off.

“You came to visit me? I’m flattered.”

Mukuro in the tank doesn’t move at all, but he grimaces despite himself. 

“Oh, don’t make that face, Kyouya. Tell me: did you kill the guards, or is this a casual visit?”

“I’m not here to break you out,” Hibari says. There are so many other things he could say.

“Still holding onto that grudge, I see.”

“No,” Hibari sighs, bowing his head. There’s a long silence that stretches between them- the tank bubbles, the generators hum, and Mukuro’s disembodied voice says nothing.

“You deserve better,” he settles on after a while.

“Oh,” Mukuro says softly. Another pause, and Hibari thinks it’s probably almost time to leave- the minutes are ticking away at an alarming pace, and he starts to pull away when the illusionist speaks again.

“Then why don’t you take my place?”

He slams into the cold water and chokes, fluid filling his lungs. His eyes go wide, flicking back and forth in the blackness. He struggles, but can’t move. The water is too heavy, the chains are too heavy, his lungs are failing him, he tastes copper, his eyes roll back, his head falls slack-

“Time’s up,” the Vindice calls from the doorway. Hibari glances over his shoulder and turns away from the tank, leaving a smear of a handprint on the dark glass.

Behind him, Mukuro smiles, eyes closed.


	2. for the damaged coda

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evil Chrome AU - For the Damaged / Coda, Blonde Redhead

There are gaps in his memories.

Like the day he killed off the Estraneo. He can’t remember it. And perhaps that’s a part of the trauma, forgetting things- but he’s almost sure he wasn’t there.

Chrome was.

He doesn’t dare say anything, barely dares to think it, but there is a nagging feeling in his gut that tells him it was her, that she was the one who used his hands, that it was her powers that killed all those people.

Did they deserve it? Of course they did.

But to think that his body was used to kill, that her powers had gone right through him and snuffed out so many powerful men…

He stops thinking. She’ll hear him if he’s not careful.

He doesn’t  _ fear  _ Chrome, of course not. She’s his savior. She dragged him out of the sterile bright lights of the Estraneo testing facility and into the cool, safe darkness of Kokuyo Health Land. She allowed his friends to live, when there was no reason to. She provided them with food and shelter for all those years on the run.

And all she asks in return is that they kill the Vongola.

Mukuro doesn’t ask questions. Pointless questioning makes Chrome angry, and all of his questions would be pointless.  _ Besides,  _ she tells him,  _ the Vongola allowed it to happen.  They deserve to be punished too. _

He’s pretty sure he believes her.

It’s Chrome’s idea- it’s all Chrome’s idea, the teeth, the countdown, using Lancia as a bait. Keeping the prefect from Namimori as a prisoner. He goes along with it because he can’t say no to her. There’s no way to say no, when he’s not there for any of it.

It’s all black, all around him, when Chrome takes over. It feels safe. Cold. He could fall asleep, he’s sure. Maybe he already has. He sometimes comes back from the darkness to find that Chrome has left him somewhere unsafe; under a highway onramp, collapsed in the prickly grass. Other times, he wakes up at Kokuyo Land, on the couch, curled up as if he’d been napping.

Today, he wakes up wounded.

His face is in his hands… No. Someone else’s hand is on his face, he comes to realize, and Chrome’s presence is gone. Vongola Decimo stands in front of him, palm pressed to Mukuro’s face.

He collapses, finding himself weak, completely spent. How long has he been out? He remembers seeing the prefect after Chrome had defeated him, as Ken and Chikusa hauled him off. Has it been hours, or days? And where is Chrome?

He faints.

And time passes.

 

“Wha- what are those men?” Tsuna asks, resisting the urge to hide behind his tutor.

“The Vindice,” Reborn says solemnly, as the faceless, bandaged men drag the three criminals away with chains. “Protectors of the mafia law.”

“You can’t take them away!” the young boss cries, stepping forward. “Mukuro was-”

“You can’t stop them,” Reborn warns, throwing a tiny hand out to hold him back. “This is justice.”

Chains coil around Mukuro’s throat and he groans, struggling to open his eyes. He can hear Ken, crying out in fear and pain, and he can feel Chikusa nearby, heart pounding- but Chrome…

_ Ah, there she is… _

“Is... is it safe to come out?” a soft, feminine voice calls. Tsuna spins around to face it, alarmed- but instantly relaxes. It’s a girl, probably his age, in a dirty greyish dress, with hair down to her shoulders. She wears a medical eyepatch over her right eye.

“It’s okay,” Reborn calls to her, “Mukuro has been defeated.”

“Thank goodness,” she whispers, eye filling up with tears. “I was so scared… I can go home now!”

“You’re safe,” Reborn confirms, as Tsuna collapses, spent from the fight and the Rebuke bullet.

 

Later, the girl would follow the medical team out of the wreckage, hands clasped shyly over her heart. As they lead her away, towards the ambulances, she pauses, turns to face Kokuyo Land once more, and lifts her eye patch. The character  _ roku  _ blazes in her iris, where her pupil should be, and then vanishes, red fading to purple.

She pulls the eyepatch off, tosses it aside, and follows the mafia out.


	3. The Emperor's New Clothes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bel kills Rasiel
> 
> The Emperor's New Clothes - Panic at the Disco.
> 
> Warning for murder, blood, etc.

It was over something stupid. Something petty.

Rasiel had ratted him out to their parents and Bel had been punished, sent to his chambers without dinner, and without his tiara, to think about what he’d done. He’d sat, fuming, playing things over again in his head. Not just that day, but every other time Rasiel had pissed him off. Rasiel deserved to die for upsetting him.

And just like that, he decided to do it.

He waited until after midnight to leave his rooms, slipping out into the hall. He encountered no one on his way to Rasiel’s quarters. It was almost just too easy.

Moonlight spilled through his twin’s bedroom, lighting up panes of the dark room in a bright blue glow. Rasiel lay on his side, back to Belphegor, snuggled into bed. 

How nice for him, to die in his sleep. Most people didn’t get that chance.

Bel slinked across the room, creeping slowly and carefully so as not to be detected. If he was caught out of bed now, he’d be in real trouble. He stopped next to Rasiel’s big bed, then climbed up on it and crawled over to his twin.

Rasiel had worn his tiara to bed, and it lay toppled over on the pillow by his disheveled hair. As for the matching piece, he clutched it tightly in his small hands, greedy as ever. He breathed slowly, evenly, slender chest rising and falling under his nightshirt. Bel stared down at his tiara, clutched in his brother’s hand, and gritted his teeth.

It was  _ his. _

There wasn’t a single moment where Bel reconsidered his decision. Climbing swiftly on top of his twin and straddling his waist, he raised the knife over his head and brought it down jaggedly into Rasiel’s thin chest.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Rasiel awoke and tried to fight after the first strike, but he was no match for Bel once wounded. He gurgled and writhed, eyes rolling back as he eventually went slack.

Bel found that it got easier as he went, bone splintering out of his way. The knife slid in and out, slick with blood. Everything was covered in red- the sheets, their clothes. Bel. He tipped his head back and laughed, tearing at his own shirt. It was just as good as his own blood, his twin’s, and he revelled in the madness, giggling hysterically and snatching his crown up off the bed where Rasiel had dropped it. Lowering it onto his head ceremoniously, he then wiped his bloody palms down his face, shrieking in joy.

When the guards came running at the commotion, they found both princes gone. Rasiel lay motionless, dead in his bedsheets. 

And the crown prince had fled.


	4. Pulling Teeth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pulling Teeth - Lucius
> 
> Mukuro sullies Hibari's pride.   
> Warning for tooth loss.

“You should be proud of yourself,” the other boy said, yanking Hibari’s head around by his hair. “Coming this far and all.”

Sakura petals hung in the air, as if frozen in time. They provided a gentle pink light to the otherwise dark room, bordering the edges of Hibari’s vision. Everywhere he looked, sakura. Blood and sweat rolled down his face, leaving a trail of grime.

“You were ranked number one, you know,” he said, kneeing Hibari in the chin. He bit down on his tongue and blood filled his mouth. “That’s impressive!  Of course, I’ve killed much stronger mafioso before you- but don’t let that detract from your little victory.”

He doesn’t answer, swallowing his blood and trying to glare at the other boy. His head feels fuzzy, vision a little blurry from the beating. He knows he has a few broken bones, he’s covered in awful bruises, he has some deep gashes on his body that need attention; and worst of all, he has no way of fighting back. The other boy has absolute control of the situation.

He’s probably going to die here, come to think of it.

Kyouya staggers to his feet, and the boy steps back, letting him stand. He swings clumsily, collapsing to his knees again, and the lotus-haired boy laughs.

“Oya oya, is that all you’ve got left in you? My, but you’re pathetic.”

Hibari pants for air, struggling to get anything in his lungs, and shoots another nasty look upwards. The other boy sneers down at him.

“I had hoped for better, but I guess this is all I should expect from a small-town nobody,” the other boy sighs. “Well, why don’t we finish up here, then?”

For a moment, fear blazes through Hibari and he glances sharply upwards, eyes wide. “Oh, wow, don’t look at me like that!” the other laughs, “I’m not going to kill you yet! You’re too much fun to play with, Hibari Kyouya.”

He snarls softly. The boy steps towards him again, grabbing him by his raven hair. Hibari expects to be dragged to his feet again for another beating, but instead, the guy kneels beside him, pulling him into a one-armed embrace. Hibari twists, trying to escape and bite him, but the other boy is so much stronger, and he’s so, so weak now.

“See, my gang and I have been working hard on this little countdown,” the blue-haired teen says, teaching his other hand into his jacket pocket. “It’s actually quite clever, I’m sure you’ll agree.” He retrieves from his jacket a pair of pliers, dark and dull from use. There’s blood on the jaws. Hibari stares at it a moment, confused, before he remembers the last victim, Sasagawa Ryohei.

His teeth.

He struggles again, and the other teen chuckles, holding Hibari’s head to his chest. His heart is racing. His teeth- absolutely not. He can’t lose those.

“Relax,” the other says, bringing the pliers close. “It’s just one tooth.”

Hibari tries to bite his hand, but the other boy grabs him by his cheeks, overpowering him and holding his mouth open. He tries to shove his assailant off, and finds he can’t move at all. He’s paralyzed. Is it the fear, or something else?

The blue-haired boy grips his right canine with the pliers, and Hibari grimaces, squeezing his eyes shut instinctively. It can’t be real. It can’t be happening. His teeth-

There’s a grinding, wrenching noise and a horrible pressure in his upper jaw. “My, you’re a stubborn one,” the other boy says, pulling hard. It hurts. Hibari can’t help the strangled groan he produces.

And with an awful grinding sensation, the tooth comes loose and pops out. Hibari blinks his eyes open, vision watery as the other boy holds it up to show him. The tooth is covered in blood, and he can feel it,, the extra gush of iron in his abused mouth. He pokes the gap between his lateral incisor and first premolar and groans again. It’s really gone.

His tooth clatters on the dusty floor, and the other teen holds his mouth open with his thumbs, tilting Hibari’s head left and right. “Hm,” he says, displeased. “No, I don’t like that. It’s uneven.”

Hibari gargles something unintelligible and the other boy raises the pliers again, clamping them over his other canine. Hibari cries out this time, yelling wordlessly as his left canine is yanked, with some struggle, out of his mouth. The boy releases him and he turns away, clutching a hand over his bleeding mouth, breathing hard and blinking back tears. 

The other boy’s hand comes into his vision, holding his teeth out. “What do you think I should do with these?” he purrs, using his finger to turn them over. Hibari shakes. His mouth aches. He has been, effectively, declawed. His pride has been sullied. The other boy stands and walks around to his front and he leans away.

“Oya oya. Don’t tell me you’re done fighting,” the other says. He holds up the pliers again. “Why don’t we go for a third?”

Hibari crumples.

“Oh my,” Mukuro says to himself, kicking at the boy’s lifeless body. “I guess he’s done, then.” 

He pockets the pliers and the teeth, and drags the unconscious boy away.


	5. Do You Feel It?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do You Feel It - Chaos Chaos  
> Hibari and Takeshi talk about suicide
> 
> Warning for the obvious, and for casual drug use.

Yamamoto Takeshi returns to the roof.

The fence rises high around the perimeter, penning him like a dog. He stands at the epicenter and turns, looking at the crosshatched metal. He walks to the edge and touches the fence. He raises his hand high and grabs on, and almost lifts a foot.

“Are you going to jump again?” a cool voice calls from somewhere above him. Takeshi looks up incredulously, finds Hibari Kyouya standing precariously atop the fence above him.

Oops.

“Ahaha, of course not! I’m just watching the sunset,” Takeshi says nervously. Jumping off the roof was added to the list of school rule infractions last year after his attempt. Hibari-san would probably bite him to death if he even thought about it now. And he doesn’t like pain.

He really doesn’t like pain, no matter how used to it he’s gotten.

Hibari hops down and lands a short distance away, back to the fence. The sky blurs red and gold behind him. Takeshi watches the prefect, so he won’t have to look at the drop.

“Last time you tried to kill yourself,” Hibari starts, “it was over baseball, right? You broke your arm and couldn’t play.” He glances over at Takeshi. “You look fine now.”

Takeshi laughs again, closing his eyes. “That was an accident last time, Hibari-san. I just happened to fall.”

“From outside the fence.”

“I was saving a baby bird.”

_ It was never just baseball. _

“You’re an awfully bad liar,” Hibari says, turning to look out at the sunset. Wires crisscross the watercolor sky, chaining them to the earth. Takeshi looks away from him, down at his feet. He needs new sneakers.

Silence cuts between them, an impassable force. Takeshi thinks about leaving, but he wants to stay. He wants to climb the fence.

“The first time I tried, I cut my wrist,” Hibari says. Takeshi freezes, subconsciously shifting his sweatband clad arm behind himself. The sunset doesn’t pause for them. The sun sinks red behind the mountains, and the sky turns grey-blue again.

He doesn’t know what to say to that. It sounds ridiculous, preposterous. He laughs a little nervously. “Wow, there’s no need to joke about that,” Takeshi says after a little while, scratching his cheek.

“Are you afraid to talk about it?” Hibari asks as the sky quickly turns dark. 

“I’m not afraid,” Takeshi says softly.

Hibari turns and sits down, back to the fencing. Takeshi watches him again, the way he leans against the chain link. He glances at the fall again.

He sits, too.

“You don’t seem like the type,” Takeshi says softly. Hibari’s eyes are closed like he’s napping, but Takeshi can feel him listening.

“Neither do you,” Hibari retorts.

“Do you…” Takeshi swallows, reconsiders the question. “Did you scar?”

Hibari almost chuckles at that, and holds his pale arm out. Battle scars cross his forearm- from whips and knives and other things, eggshell gashes on white. Takeshi reaches out and takes his hand gingerly, flipping his arm over. A paper thin line over his inner wrist.

“I thought you were kidding,” he murmurs, feeling bad. “Why did you…”

“Nevermind,” Hibari says, drawing his arm back. “Why does anyone?”

Takeshi shuts his mouth and chews on his lip. He’s not sure if Hibari wants an answer or not.

“Everything just… feels like so much,” he says after a minute. “It feels like a lot.”

“It is a lot,” Hibari agrees.

“I just want to drop it all,” Takeshi mumbles, looking down. The guilt of saying it aloud is almost overwhelming. His eyes burn. “I wanted to just… run away.”

Another long silence stretches between them, and Hibari seems further and further away. Takeshi’s not sure he heard him. He’s not sure Hibari cares.

“Sorry, this is pretty heavy,” he says, moving into a crouch so that he can stand up. “I’m gonna-”

“Let’s run away, then,” Hibari says. A long-considered reply.

Takeshi stares at him. Was  _ that  _ a joke? He feels like he doesn’t have a grasp on Hibari’s sense of humor at all. 

“A suicide pact?” he laughs, a little nervously. He wants to climb the fence, but taking someone with him feels so…

Selfish.

It hurts.

“You don’t have to die to get away,” Hibari says, reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket. He pulls out a pill bottle and pops it open.

“Oh, whoa,” Takeshi says, as Hibari pops two pills under his tongue and passes the bottle over. “I don’t know if I should do that.” He takes it anyway, staring in at the round, green tablets. “Is it good?”

“It’s okay,” Hibari says.

He takes one.

He puts it under his tongue to let it dissolve, the way Hibari did, and waits.

They sit in silence for a long time. He feels dizzy, weak, tired. “Is it working?” he asks, tongue heavy in his mouth. 

Hibari doesn’t answer, but lays down on his side. Takeshi scoots closer and lays beside him. He still feels like crying. He still wants to climb the fence.

“Does this make you feel better?” he asks Hibari. The prefect shakes his head slowly.

“No,” he says, “but I can control it.”

Takeshi closes his eyes. He knows the feeling.

It doesn’t feel real, but when does anything? He says as much. Hibari opens his eyes slowly.

“Do you want something real?” he asks softly. Takeshi nods.  

Soft lips on his mouth, and he kisses back, eyes still closed. He lifts an arm and reaches out to drape it over Hibari’s shoulder, holding him closer.

“Do you feel it?” Hibari asks when they part. Maybe it’s just the pills, but Takeshi nods again.

He opens his eyes after a while and finds the night is black. Hibari is asleep. Takeshi sits up on the roof and looks at the fence. He stands and reaches a hand up, grasps the chain link.

He lifts his foot and climbs.


End file.
